So, CD sales have dropped to their lowest level since Dire Straits released Brothers in Arms - the first ever fully digital (DDD) recording - in 1985. This was before most people even had CD players. It's that low.
And the average teenager now has over 800 pirated tracks on their Ipod.
The music industry is scratching its collective head (goatee?) wondering what to do about it. Take my advice. Do nothing. Just let it happen. But put more time/effort/backing into promoting live music instead.
For many people web2.0 is a brave new world that's challenging business models and putting music/film makers and artists out of business.
That's rubbish. In fact it's a return to a bygone age - and that's how we should be talking about it.
Before Edison recorded sound, the only way people could appreciate music is if they went to where it was being played. All music was live - and you either paid to have the composers and the musicians come to you (if you could afford it), you went to where it was being played (booze and music have always been linked) or you made it yourself.
But then recording music became big business. And owning music moved from novelty to necessity. But now music can be so easily reproduced, copied and distributed that the bottom has totally dropped out of the business model associated with recording and distributing it.
The scarcity previously associated with finding good new music - if the record labels liked it enough to record, and your local record shop had it, you could buy it. If not, you coudn't - has also totally disappeared. Just sign up to last.fm and you'll soon be inundated with music you'll like. Or surf Myspace.
The scarcity associated with music is now not accessing the music itself, it's associated with the tickets to see your favourite band/DJ in a venue near you. Madonna has got it sussed by buying her live rights back. Big name DJs have got it right. People are still willing to pay good money for the experience of listening to music with like-minded people in a comfortable setting. Massive demand, coupled with limited supply. This is where the business lies in the future.
Mark my words, or I'll walk round a city in a turf wheel. Doing the walk.... the walk of life.
